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WDWD20EFRX
WDWD30EFRX
▲ 52608 ▼

Release date: Q3 2012.

VS
▲ 521,408 ▼

Release date: Q3 2012.

Effective Speed 
+1%
Real World Speed
Performance profile from 133,085 user samples
Benchmark your HDD here
64,359 User Benchmarks
Best Bench: 86% 2TB free
Worst Bench: 45% 2TB free (System drive)
Poor: 45% Great: 86%
SPEED RANK: 148th / 1015
68,726 User Benchmarks
Best Bench: 88% 4TB free
Worst Bench: 42% 2.5TB free
Poor: 42% Great: 88%
SPEED RANK: 143rd / 1015
Effective Speed
Effective HDD Speed 		66.4 % 67.3 % +1%
Average Score 
+2%
Read
Avg. Sequential Read Speed 		119 MB/s 120 MB/s +1%
Write
Avg. Sequential Write Speed 		112 MB/s 114 MB/s +2%
4K Read
Avg. 4K Random Read Speed 		0.8 MB/s 0.81 MB/s +1%
4K Write
Avg. 4K Random Write Speed 		2.27 MB/s 2.35 MB/s +4%
Mixed
Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 		72.6 MB/s 74.6 MB/s +3%
4K Mixed
Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 		0.89 MB/s 0.91 MB/s +2%
SusWrite
Avg. Sustained Write Speed 		112 MB/s 115 MB/s +3%
Peak Score 
+2%
Read
Peak Sequential Read Speed 		155 MB/s 160 MB/s +3%
Write
Peak Sequential Write Speed 		144 MB/s 147 MB/s +2%
4K Read
Peak 4K Random Read Speed 		1 MB/s 1 MB/s
4K Write
Peak 4K Random Write Speed 		2.7 MB/s 2.8 MB/s +4%
Mixed
Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed 		94.3 MB/s 99 MB/s +5%
4K Mixed
Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 		1 MB/s 1 MB/s
SusWrite
Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average 		148 MB/s 150 MB/s +1%
Value & Sentiment 
+1%
Market Share
Based on 53,942,612 HDDs tested
See market share leaders
Market Share
Market Share (trailing 30 days) 		0.35 % Much higher market share.
+75% 		0.2 %
Value
Value For Money 		34.5 % 58.6 % Much better value.
+70%
User Rating
UBM User Rating 		52 % 52 %
Price
Price (score) 		$77 $69 Cheaper.
+10%
Nice To Haves 
0%
Age
Newest 		148 Months 148 Months
Specifications 
Capacity
Capacity 		2TB 3TB
Conclusion 
Average Bench 66.4%
Average Bench 67.3%

The 2TB version of WD's Red NAS range of hard drives has a performance profile that is similar to that of its larger 3TB sibling. Both drives lag behind the group average significantly in terms of overall performance. With an average read speed of 108 MB/s the 2TB Red is 36% slower than the group leaders which manage an average of 147 MB/s. There is a huge amount of hype around the "NAS" aspects of these drives but there is very little substance in terms of specific characteristics that make this drive better suited to a NAS than any other. The obvious factors such as energy efficiency and operating temperature are only marginally improved on these drives. I would personally prefer one of the far better performing Seagate Barracudas as when looking at a direct comparison of the Barracuda vs the Red it's clear that the performance of the Barracuda is better across the board. [Feb '14 HDrivePro]

MORE DETAILS

With peak sequential read/write speeds of 140 and averages of 120 MB/s the 3TB WD Red is around 25% slower than the group leaders. If the Red is used in a NAS (Network Attached Storage), that won't make much difference because the vast majority of home networks still operate at Fast Ethernet (~10 MB/s), even users with faster Gigabit (~100 MB/s) networks will be limited by their network bandwidth before the drive. I could assume that any of our drives are for use in a NAS but that of course doesn't excuse sub-par performance because they could equally be used in a desktop. It's true that the power consumption (4.4W) on the Red is lower than average (6W) but the performance hit isn't justified. Even assuming continuous usage, those extra couple of watts for something like the Seagate Baracuda 7200.14 amount to a few pounds a year at most. At £133 this dive is both overpriced and offers sub-optimal performance. [Feb '14 HDrivePro]

MORE DETAILS

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We calculate effective speed which measures performance for typical consumers. Effective speed is adjusted by current cost per GB to yield value for money. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top HDDs. [HDrivePro]

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The Best
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Intel Core i5-13600K $210Nvidia RTX 4060 $280WD Black SN850X M.2 2TB $135
Intel Core i5-12600K $159Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $389WD Black SN850X M.2 1TB $84
Intel Core i5-12400F $111Nvidia RTX 4070 $500Crucial T700 M.2 4TB $370
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